Variety (May 1922)

T?T?rC^P^ nm Pi TO EDITORIALS Friday, May 5, 1988 niETY Trade Mark R*fl»tere<l PvblUhed Weekly by VAmiCTT, Imc. FIMB 81L.VERMAN, President. 164 West 4Jth Street New York City SUBSCRIPTION: Annual $7 I Foreign........ 18 Single Copiee 20 Cents CARNIVALS FOLLOW BASEBALL AND PICTURES Variety welcome!9 th*? tardy but now jispure*! aid of the better carnival companies against the pillaging, corrupting, nau.seating majority of the gangs of yeggfi and wantons who have made the word "Carnival" synoni- mou8 with larceny, vice, disease and bribery. VOL* LXVL %te Ko. 11 At last the decent carnival men have come to rcalire that they must bear the burden of this disgrace upon tlieir shoulderR, that the ban against the thieves will be a ban against the honest onen, too. and that they cannot long survive—any of them—if what has been going on in "The Sewer of ^3how Business" continues. 15 YEARS AGO Utwa Items Reprinted from Taricty, Voted May 5, 1907. K. A K. vaudeville was set to ftart at the Lyceum, Rochester, the following ■ week.—C o o k ' a Opera House had Houdini, Eva Tanguay (reported getting $600 then), De- Witt, Burns and Torrance and Fly- ing Dunbars. The Lyceum had Four Mortons, Emma Car js, Wood- ward's Seals and others. It was forecast George M. Cohan would do a single act In Klaw & Erlanger vaudeville the following reason, but it wasn't certain. He did Intend to revive the family vehicle, "The Governor's Son," and would devote himself to producing acts for the new opposition. Edward Ackerman, William W^es- ton, Sam Hllrris and Tony Lubelski met In New York as representatives of the ciiK:uit8 which opposed Sul- livan & Considine in that territory. A committee of the Vaudeville Comedy Club investigated charges against the Empire City Quartet, growing out of the breaking of a contract with Weber & Rush. Their report recommended Irving Cooper of the quartet be expelled from the cfub. This was the second expul- sion, the other involving a team which had pleaded sick to evade a dattt and then played for another circuit. Clifton Crawford" was under con- tract to Joseph Hart for a produc- tion. He was anxious to enter vaudeville but found his agreement with Hart had another year to run. —Ed Blondell organized his own production company, capitalized at 120,000. The gold fever was on in Nevada and gold mine stock was as common as picture stock at a later date. The Nevada Hippodrome Circuit Co. had been organized in Tonopah and started to build theatres there and in Goldfleld and Reno. Al Sutherland claimed a new booking record. He informed the United Booking Offices Work and Ower, a comedy acrobatic team, would come over from England the next season, and 20 minutes later received contracts for 40 weeks. f Virginia Earl tried out a new act, "A Midnight Mistake."—Maurice Levi, bandmaster, was booked for a BoaEon at Young's Pier, Atlantic City, bcjginning June 30. All the mu.sical comedy stars were looking vaudeville-ward, at- tracted by the heavy money. Sam Bernard was a prospect Lew Fields and Blanche Ring were about com- pleting their legitimate season and they also were talked of In an in- dennitc way. Tlio K. & E. venture had gone over the top the week before- at the Chestnut Street opera liouse, IMiJladeiphia. The gross was rfpor'.cd at $12,602. Fob r.irard, a Times S«iuare agent, went to San I'rancipco with lijs fanjily to nuike liis future home there.—The Batber-Ritchie Trio dissolved abrou<l, Ritchie and IiIk wife making a ntw combination. Josephine Colian opened in a new sketch at the I'alaco, London, but withdrew, the vehicle boin;^ iin- satlslactory. Subseiiuonily Miss Cohnn became a popular star in KngJand. Sim Williams organized "The Golden A\'tst Lurle.squcrs," a catch- as-cat(h-can burlesque troup, to tour tiie soutliern ono-ni/^jhters for the early summer. Sim's cx-part- nery Joe Adams, was running a popular resort in 44th street and periodically threatened to go back to the Whcfl stnge. Joe's was nbfmt the flrnt real cabaret along tlu- Bioadway lane. The rest of the amusement businesc will gladly join with these within the pestilential trafllc, for to millions of ruralite citizens the carnivals convey the impression of the entire amusement Industry, and this has led to III repute, drastic legislation and general )o«8 of prestige. It had to come. And it had to come from within. Perhaps the stub- born activity of Variety has helped to bring the climax sooner than it might otherwise have been struck. ,If jo, Variety is proud—proud that it h s had a hand In removing a stench from the field it works in, has had a hand in proving again the effectiveness of even trade newspaper publicity through carrying this fight into almost every other newspai)er in the land of decency. Now th« carnival business must purify Itself as did the boscl^hall business, the burlesque business, the motion picture busin^sv. Like the rest of these, it has scandals to live down and an unsavory impres.sIon to eradicate and then replace. It must go at it earnestly and nercilessly. And if It does not, it will be expunged. Public opinion Is slow In massing and pointing and consummating, but It is irre.istible when once it gets going. The liquor traffic refused to believe that—look what happened to it! INSIDE STUFF ON VAUDEVILLE According to the vaudeville booking men who have played an act com- posed of veteran artifits, the act does not draw any money into theatres for headline value on vaudeville bills. The act in question has been the hit of every bill on which it appeared, however. The personnel requires it get a headllner's salary. The bookers claim an apathy by the present generation of vaudeville patrons and their unfamiliarity with any of the former greats. This seems to prove the contention of several au- thorities that the present vaudeville patrons of the big time houses are drawn from a totally different clientele than the fans of former days. The fathers and mothers also seem to have deserted vaudeville, for the oldtlmers failed to pull them back into the palaces of the two-a-day. Mrs. Harry Von Tilxer has been ritzing her Freeport, Long Island, spacious home and grounde. Mrs. Von Tilzer calls her estate, "The Farm." Harry Von Tilzer has started on a song, inspireJ by the green grass all around. It's going to be called "By the Lights Near the Farm, I Can See *Em Roaming in the Gloaming." A single has been giving his sen'ices at the annual benefit show of a Jewish hospital and, although he is of another persuasion. hi4B popu- larity at the affairs has been great. This season when the committee was framing its shows a member informed the monologlst, who played Shubert vaudeville this season, that they did not think they could ask him to appear because as most of the bill came out of the Keith office it mlghc be "opposition" if they had him at the benefit. A letter carefully explaining and expressing regret followed. A few days later another letter came stating the matter had been taken up at the Keith office and there was no objection. W^ould he please appear in t>e show? He will. A vaudeville author came out of the Times building this week withthe script of an act which he has made into ;; two-act musical show and which will shortly be produced, aimed for Broadway this summer. He explained he had been to an expert .stenographer who took down all the "wows" for the show, but that the stcno^ "didn't crack a single laugh." The writer even "waited" for her to make some sign of "appre- ciation," but she never even smiled. He forgot to ask how much of It •ho had heard befr)re. The special reel made and exhibited la.«*t week in connection wi*h the B. F. Keith anniversary celebration gives a few statistics about vaude- ville, at the beginning, in 1885, when B. F. Keiths Boston Museum waa next to the Adams house, and of the present. The films have different views of early Keith theatres in various cities and those more modern Kelth'.s, In Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland, with the cost of the new Keith's (n^t yet open) in Cleveland placed at $3,500,000. a? against the cost of the first Keith's. $30,000. Other statistics included the weekly co.'t of the first Keith thc.itre, $383, as against the $2,000,000 weekly now paid out to operate all vaude- ville; with the first seating capacity, 1.406. and at itresent all vaudeville seating 1,440,000; the first Keith vaudeville bill, holding nine artists, as against the 125.000 vaudeville artists at present, the statistics say, estimating the number of all people e«ii>loyed in vaudeville theatres each week now as 200.000. Toward the end of the film pictures of the late B. P. Keith and his son, the late A. Paul Keith, arc shown, with moving pictures of E. F. Alljec, the head of thf Keith circuit, at his desk in the I'alace Theatre building, New York. Mr. Albee i.s described in a caption as "the most potent factor In the world of amusement." readfl the theatrical papers, looks after the stage morals of the on^' nighten) playing Cordell, and keeps In close touch with his fonait vaudeville a««ociate«. A come<lian in a Broadway production is said to have taken the pledrt one morning when appearing at the theatre for rehearsal and finding an underptu-'.y ther^ ready to go on Jn bis part. Prior to that incident ths management is reported to have had considerable trouble "handling" ii^^ comedian, whchas been quite docile since the happening. The government is doing away with the $10 fee charged for all pa8S4 ports, dating from the war. Lately Americans going abroad have been assessed but $1 for passports. The revision of the charges was mad# following complaints of Americans of retaliation by foreign countries. Every time an American citizen entered one of the cyntintntal countries a charge of $10 per person was made, and passport fees alone ran in * several hundred dollars. The charge for Britishers entering France, how* \ ever, was but two shillings six pence, and all charges are said to hav^ been lifted. The $16 head tax for persons entering the U. S. Is said to still remain. TOMMY'S TATTLES t\ By THOMAS J. GRAY Third of a century would be an awful long time to lay off, but somf acts have done it without half trying. ' '*■ »! Carl Copeland, the "straight" man of the William.«. Thompson and Copcland series of acts, popuhu- in the \N»st and middle west eome few years back, has j^een elected ^layor of Cord* 11, Okla., a town of 12,000 inhabitant.". Cordell is the birthplace of Its Mayor, wiio sptnt most of his life ill the show bnsiner^, retiring a few years ago, when the act dis- .solved, Williams rstal)lishing a rtstamant business in Ft. W^rth, whilr .lames rl^'af) Thonipsun remained in vaud'viTle. NotwiUistanding hi.s ftuddrn rise to political popularity, "Cope" still rolls Lis own makin't?. Statistics on 33 years of vaudeville are now In order. In that time—^ 29,654,209 telegrams were sent by actors saying "Where do we go next week"? 67,568 ladit^s entered In "one" and dropped a handkerchief to give € natty looking comedian an excuse for saying "Haven't we met eomewhert before"? 457,349 funny fellows have looked up at someone in a box and salt-. "Take your arm off that rail; you make me thirsty." 564,432.179 acta have blamed the orchestra for "crabbing" their act. 564,432,179 orchestras have "crabbed" acts. ' 56,784 painters have been p^^d for painting a sign "Keep out of thid entrance." 897,13'',985 actors have read the sign and have yet to pay any attentlOii*^ to h. 784,999 eong pluggers have waited" by stage doors to say "Jurt conM^. up to the place as a favor to me." ^ -»v 678,234 small black books were sold to agcjnts. ^ '4 $4,267,175 was paid out In tips to stage hands who only seem to be K the theatre on pay night. - * , ^ 908,430,296 handkerchiefs tossed back and forth by acrobats. 6 548.932 sketches "would have been all right if they only had a bettd^ no flnieh." ,/: {67,777 monologlsts saw "something funny happen on a street ctfj while on their way to the theatre." .^j 548,921 soubrets "sneaked" dogs past hotel clerks. • -• 765,222,004 acts were asked to "Come over to the Elke and have a lot of beer and sandwiches." J^l 9,675.453.123 yards of colored paper were taken out of high hats uf, magicians. * . . i 2,651,906 actors wished to be pardoned for "stepping out of their j character." ^ 7,623 female Impersonators "walked off like a roan" for a finish. Over 2,000,000 pianos were worn out by composers "playing their latest composition." 6,894,167 invitations to "spend a couple of weeks at the farm with US this summer" were shouted from dressing room to dressing room. 6.890,537 men wore drese suits and looked terrible in them. H 345,765 musical acts finished with "Dixie." J 785,655 actresses were billed as "Somewhat different" ^ile 885,6il were billed as "The little girl with the big voice." "Humoresque" was played 10,000,000 times by 5,000 violin players. 8,534,908 acts refused to send royaltiee to authors after they left New York City. 4,321,890 photographs were given to "the besj stgge crew on thK circuit." 467,223 wives announced that they "made their husbands what th«7 are today." 65,111 trained horses would have their trainers work eight days m week. ^1 555,888 acts were reviewed by Variety. '; 555,888 acts said the: would never buy Variety again. Two authors were given credit by actors. One of them wrote the act for himself. 6.000,000 acts were "riots," 8,000,000 were "panics" and 10,000,000 knocked audiences out of their seats. > . 10,000,000 seats are still in the same placf.s. The Horrors of Hollywood Reel Three The horror of the "Used cars for sale" wa« an awful blew to Jasmer, but the horror of the puttees and the assistant directors was even worse. If it wasn't for his early training on the farm he might have become weak and fainted. But he had made up his mind to this devil-Infested place, as the good Deacon called it, and he wa« going through with It. He walked up and down one street after another, expecting to see • couple < t murders committed any minute, or at least see some one stabbed. He waa disappointed. He looked around for bathing glrl^ surely the streetts somewhere in the town were filled with pretty blondes and brunettes In tho>e short bathing suits that he had seen so often l» the pictures. But where were they? Maybe after all the place was a fake? How could ^he Deacon be wrong? He was a smart man. Didn't he win two prizes for guessing puzzles in the towns weekly newspaper? Suddenly h-* saw ten men turn a corner. They were leading horsed. They had great big broad-rimmed hats; they also wore chaps. They came nearer; he e.iw • .iey all had shirts with large red and green stripes; some had yellow and purple; they .were dazzling. One of them tried to ride his horse, but he fell off; as they came nearer Jasm^ saw they had guns. Suddenly the thought struck him: "They are moving picture cowboys. Good heavens! There he stood gazing light at another one of those Horrors of Hollywood. (Don't know if the boss will let thi.s la.st much lonccr.) There were a lot of changes in (he buihsriue liiuup. Hyde & lUh- n)an*s Adams .street, Brooklyn, went into the Eastern Wheel and it was promised tiie Columbi.a totcrie would have two otlur Brooklyn the- atres the following' season. It nou'd have more theatres in New York, too, its holdings then being made up of the Murraj Hill on East 42d street, and Hnrtig A SeamorrK Tlnr- km music liall on West 125th stmt. about 100 yards east from th«ir present Harlem stand. Tlie Empire Circuit or Western Wlie« 1 declared a 25 per cent, divi- dend on its stock and also was making p]an«5 for the next season. Among them it was declared would be a new house In Newark, N. J., in opposition to Iho Kastern Wheel, which played Waldjnan's. Sub^e- (luently the Miners built a New honve. Tho prospect was for some spirited cUinhes among the circuses. fn the Benns.vlvania coal fields I'.arnum Ac Bailey, llinglinK Bros., John Robinson and Walter L. i^in were booked fi>r close opposition. The Ilinglingp, Pawnee Bill and Earnum & Bailey v.-erc due in .St. Louis all within three weeks,- and in New England the Frank A. Rob- bins, Buffalo Bill and Hargreaves ontlits were on each others heels. Clarenoe Drownes came on from Chicago 4o be nsststant to Miurtin Beck In the Orpheum ofhces, and Charles E. Bray was designated northwestern general manager for 4he" Orpheum with ofTlc' ; in Port- land. Among the new acts listed In Variety were Joe Kane and Josle Rooney, Charles Mack and Co. (formrrly of Callahan and Mn-^k), and "The Song Birds," an operatic travesty by Victor II-rbert and George V. Hobart.